Government Documents

This library is a congressionally designated depository for U.S. Government documents. Public access to the government documents collection is guaranteed by public law. (Title 44 United States Code)

The Ohio Wesleyan University Beeghly Library has been a federal depository for government publications since 1845, and is one of the oldest continuous federal depository libraries in the United States.

Beeghly Library is a selective depository, receiving approximately 20% of all publications available for selection through the Federal Depository Library Program, which distributes millions of U.S. government publications to libraries across the countries.

Government documents are located on the first floor of Beeghly Library. They are classified using the Superintendent of Documents (SuDoc) classification system. Most of our government documents are available can be accessed through CONSORT, the shared catalog of Denison University, Kenyon College, Ohio Wesleyan University, and the College of Wooster.

Materials in the government documents collection are freely available to the general public. Below are policies related to government documents developed by the CONSORT colleges and the Five Colleges of Ohio:

The Government Publications Department maintains a rich historical collection of nineteenth and twentieth century documents, varied in subject matter with concentration in documents from the following agencies:

Bureau of the Census

Bureau of Labor Statistics

Congress and Congressional Committees

Education Department

Internal Revenue Service

Judiciary

U. S. Geological Survey

These reflect the university's strengths in economics, history, political science, education, and geology.